Black-bellied Whistling-ducks

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I was introduced to the Black-bellied Whistling-duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) on my first birding trip to S. Texas several years ago.  While touring the King Ranch as a new birder, we encountered a pond within the immense property that was literally filled to the brim with these noisy waterfowl.  We heard them before we saw them.  There were so many, one could hardly see the surface of the water.  In his book Essential Field Guide Companion, Peter Dunne describes them as " very vocal, but not necessarily loud.  Their call is a squealing whistle followed by two (or more) high, sharp stuttered peepings."  While they may not be very loud, when there are hundreds, their vocalizations fill the air.

Most recently, I've had the pleasure of observing the Black-bellied Whistling-ducks on my visits to the inner-city Brackenridge Park in San Antonio, Texas.

(click picture to enlarge)

This waterfowl, a medium sized (19" - 21") goose-like duck, slightly smaller than a Mallard, favors fresh water habitats surrounded by trees, but can be found foraging in dry fields.  Here they have found safety in numbers in the brackish waters within the confines of the park along the San Antonio River.

Mostly found in the subtropic environments of southern-most US to Central South America, they are pretty much non-migratory.  

 

They can often be seen perched in nearby trees.  As a matter of fact, they were once known as black-bellied tree-ducks because they nest in tree cavities.

And they don't mind sharing their space with others!
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I always look forward to leisurely strolls through Brackenridge Park when I visit San Antonio, a place to escape the city for an hour, an afternoon, or even a whole day, in the company of my daughter.

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Great Give-away!

My daughter, Kirsten, is sponsoring a terrific give-away on her blog and it's worth taking a quick trip over to check it out.  She makes beautiful greeting cards - seems to have "the gift"!!   Now, she is graciously offering her creative talent to YOU! 

I, for one, never have enough greeting cards on hand!  Here's an opportunity for you to brighten someone's mailbox with a hand crafted card for just the right occasion!

Here's a quick peek of just a small sampling:

Visit her new Etsy store, too!

Thanks for stopping by! ~karen

Voles' Holes

Days are getting longer, the snow cover is receding, and look what it exposed all around the base of the bird feeding station!

They circle the area!

And in front of each hole, there is a pile of empty sunflower seed shells.

A little closer view!  Regretfully, I was never quite quick enough to capture any of the voles as they darted in and out of the safety of their little holes. 

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Here in New England, voles, mice, and shrews live in and navigate through tunnels under the snow cover.  This area is called the "subnivian space", an extensive, continuous air space at ground level between the snow and the earth.  Temperatures maintain a fairly even 32 degrees F.

In Bernd Heinrich's book, Winter World,  he explains that near the top of any snowpack, the snow gets denser as the crystals bond together.  But, closer to the ground, where it is warmer than at the surface, water vapor from disintergrating snow crystals migrates upward and recondenses, freezing onto the upper snow pack crystals, and creating this subnivian space.

Young trees are very susceptible to the hungry winter appetites of these little critters.  They will chew the young, tender bark right off the bottom of the trunks, all the way up to the top of the snow mark.  It is enough to damage and kill the tree.  Trees planted purposefully will require protection!

Here's a picture of a picture sketched by Bernd to illustrate the activity described above.

Note the grass nest to the left.  Mice, voles, and shrews will breed very early in the spring when the sun is bright enough to penetrate the frozen ice crystals overhead.  Voles, especially, are very prolific!

But with the help of owls, foxes, coyotes, and weasels, their population remains manageable.

Great grey owls can hear the movement clear through the snow cover from 30 meters away (that's well over 90 feet!), and using their balled up feet, will crash right through the snow to catch their prey. Foxes and coyotes located voles by sound, as well, and dig through the snow for their tasty treat.

One final, interesting note - when the snow cover totally recedes and the voles vacate their fully exposed grass nests, they are often taken over by bumblebee queens that are starting new colonies.

There is just so much going on in our natural world.  How could one not be curious?

For more Nature Notes/Signs of the Season,

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Thank you Michelle at Rambling Woods for

hostessing such a delightful meme!

Pecan Tree

As a Northeasterner, I am always fascinated with pecan trees (Carya illinoinsis) when I visit S. Texas at Christmastime.  Although difficult to clean, I can't resist harvesting the nuts and toting them back to the house.  On this day, I employed my daughter's help while I wandered the area with my camera.  Just a note: This year, the bag of pecans remained unshelled throughout my visit and I'm sure became compost after I left!

A member of the Hickory family, and the largest and most familiar in the south, the pecan tree is a stately, almost imposing figure in the rich open lowlands.  Deciduous, the Pecan Tree can grow to 130 feet in height,  and can live, bearing nuts, for up to 300 years.  Homeowners commonly plant the pecan tree to use for shade in their landscaping.

According to Sibley's new Guide to Trees, it is one of the last trees to leaf out in the spring, and the leaves stay green into late fall, and is monoecious.   As you can surmise by its massive size, a single tree can produce more than 1,000 pounds of nuts in one season.  It's wide spreading branches invite various visitors, including this ladder-backed woodpecker!

Pecans are a good source of protein and unsaturated fats, and like the walnut, are rich in Omega 6 - fatty acids.  They are featured in many traditional, sweet, southern desserts, such as pecan pie.

The word pecan  is from an Algonquian word meaning a 'nut requiring a stone to crack'.  The early settlers found these native trees growing in a large region from the Mississippi Valley to central Texas and to this day, they continue to be valuable sources for cultivars.   Aside from nut production, pecan trees provide furniture-grade wood. 

Watery Wednesday

 

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Northern Sea Star

Northern Sea Star

  (Asterias vulgaris)  

A familiar site for me during my forays along the shores of Cape Breton Island,the Northern Sea Star, also called the Purple Sea Star, takes center stage.  I know, it isn't purple.  It's color depends largely on what it has been feasting upon, and it can range in shades from pink to red to orange. 
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As carnivores,  their favorite food of choice includes mussels and oysters.  The majority of sea stars have the most remarkable ability to consume prey - from outside their bodies!  They use tiny, suction-cupped tube feet to pry open clams or oysters. Their stomach then emerges from their mouth and oozes inside the shell. 

They wrap this stomach around the prey to digest it, and finally withraw the stomach back into their own body.

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There are approximately 1600 different species of Sea Stars world wide.  Once called "starfish", scientists have changed the name to Sea Star because they obviously are not fish!  They are actually echinoderms and are cousins to the sand dollars and and sea urchins!  Their spiny outer layer protects them from prey, and they are famous for being able to regenerate a missing limb.  Not all Sea Stars have 5 limbs.  Some have up to 20, even 40!
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These marine animals use sea water instead of blood to pump nutrients throughout their bodies. And, they don't have a brain!   Amazing that they can do all the things they do without a brain.

 
Those of us with brains should take a lesson!!
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Mute Swans

On a little patch of open water in a frozen lake, I came acorss this

pair of  Mute Swans, (Cygnus olor).

I watched them for a long time as they took turns feeding.  First one, then the other.

A native of northern and central Eurasia, the Mute Swan was introduced into North America to grace the ponds of parks and estates. Escaped individuals have established breeding populations in several areas, where their aggressive behavior threatens native waterfowl.

The Mute Swan is one of the heaviest flying birds, with males (known as cobs) averaging about 12 kilograms (26 lb) and females (known as pens) more than 15 kilograms (33 lb).

Source:   http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/mute_swan/id

For more Camera Critters from around the world, click HERE!